Mature students' journey into higher education in the UK: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

This article reports on issues of diversity in the context of widening participation in global higher education (HE). Mature students represent a third of the HE student population in Australia, Canada, UK and the USA. More research is needed to understand factors that can facilitate or hinder acces...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Higher education research and development 2020-02, Vol.39 (2), p.332-345
Main Authors: Saddler, Yasmin, Sundin, E. C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Aspiration
Access to Education
Adult Students
Barriers
Decision Making
Experience
First Generation College Students
Foreign Countries
goals
Higher Education
Identification
identity change
Learning Motivation
Mature students
motivations
Nontraditional Students
personal and social changes
Phenomenology
Self Concept
Student Attitudes
Student Educational Objectives
Student Motivation
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Summary:This article reports on issues of diversity in the context of widening participation in global higher education (HE). Mature students represent a third of the HE student population in Australia, Canada, UK and the USA. More research is needed to understand factors that can facilitate or hinder access to HE for this group. The aim of this study was to examine factors that a small group of mature students perceived influenced them as they made the decision to take up HE. Six undergraduate students at a British university who were on track to finish their studies took part in semi-structured interviews. All participants were white and from families with no previous experience of HE. Mean age was 42.7 years (range 35-51), and 50% were female. The interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Through using phenomenological analysis to analyse perceptions of changing motivation and goals during the decision-making process to take up HE, a detailed understanding of the complexity of these change processes was obtained. The analysis offers evidence that mature students experience far-reaching personal and social changes related to their decision to enter HE and adds a novel understanding of these identity-changes. This new insight is of fundamental importance to the field because the novel understanding of mature students' meaning-making could be used to tailor interventions to facilitate access to HE for mature students.
ISSN:0729-4360
1469-8366
DOI:10.1080/07294360.2019.1672624